Marketing, sigh. Need I say more?
For anyone in any artistic field working to make a name for themselves, this word instils a feeling of dread, despair, and depression. You can search sites, blast your works in every medium, pay for ads, websites, even interviews and still come up with no more change in your pocket than you had hours earlier. Not only does the mounting frustration leave you feeling like a total failure, but the thought of even giving it another go brings elevated blood pressure.
I wish I could say at the end of this blog you will have mastered the hell out of marketing, but you won't, cause I doubt many people 'master' it. What I can promise is that you'll see there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
I've been writing for over fifteen years, marketing along the way. Of course I always thought I was doing enough, but the more research I did, the more authors I listened to, I realised I was far from covering all I should be. I became frustrated. I pushed away from marketing all together and jumped back into writing. I wrote several more books after that, and with the completion of each one, I set out into the marketing hell we all know. I kept trying, kept researching, kept falling into despair. Yet, kept writing.
Today I have seven self published works from a five-book novel series, a novella, short story collection, and two older works. I have entered contest after contest with my work and over the years have gained some minor wins, until 2018 when I came across a flyer at my local library. That Canadian writer short story contest would have me chosen as one of Canada's best writers of 2018.
My marketing is still not as good as it could or should be, but I am making my way one word at a time. I still research, I still add to my growing list of ways to market, things to do, and I will continue to do so because marketing success, or not, I am doing something I love. I don't have to make six figures or sell that multi-million dollar movie deal, I don't have to be as famously known as Nora Roberts or Dean Koontz, as long as I never let the downfalls outweigh the pride, the sense of achievement I get with every piece I finish.
Roxy Matthews